a80 THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING, 



not find, that alfo will make them flack. Never 

 try to find a fox after one o'clock ; you had bet- 

 ter return home, and hunt again on the next 

 day. Not that I, in general, approve of hunt^ 

 ing two days following with the fame hounds: 

 the trying fo many hours in vain, and the being 

 kept fo long off their food, both contribute to 

 make them flack, and nothing furely is more con-» 

 trary to the true fpirit of fox-hiuiling; for foX' 

 hounds, I have already faid, ought always to be 

 above their work. This is another particular, \x\ 

 ■which hare-hunting and fox-hunting totally dif- 

 fer; for harriers cannot be hunted too mucl), as 

 long as they are able to hunt at all. The flower 

 they go, the lefs likely they will be to over-run 

 the fcent, and the fooner, in all probability, will 

 they kill their game. I have a friend, who 

 hunted his five days following, and afTured me, 

 that he had better fport with them the laft day 

 than the firfl. 



I remember to have heard that a certain pack 

 of fox-hounds, fince become famous, were many 

 weeks, from a mixture of indifferent hounds, bad 

 management, and worfe luck, without killing a 

 fox. However, they killed one at lafl, and 

 tried to find another. They found him — and 

 they lofl him— and we^ then, as you may well 

 fuppofe, a month without killing another fox. 



This 



